


One Small Voice

by EstaJay



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dr Seuss, Tiny Evan, and there's a lot of rhyming, blame the shuffle button for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 20:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12116451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstaJay/pseuds/EstaJay
Summary: In this world there are Whos, tiny little people smaller than the eye can see that can float in the air. Whos create Thinks, corporeal manifestation of thoughts, in order to be seen. However, should a Think become too dark or self-destructive, it will devolve into a Hunch.Evan Hansen is a Who with Hunches instead of Thinks, one small voice in the universe waiting to be heard.(Or the fic that spawned when the DEH and Seussical soundtracks play back to back)





	One Small Voice

**Author's Note:**

> I really should be working on my other fics (or more importantly exam revision) but this musical has sucked me in and won't let go. Can't wait for when it comes over down under.

 

What are Whos? 

Whos are tiny little people, smaller than the eye can see. Once they lived on specks of dust, in cities that at any given moment could crash or be drowned, hitting the ground. Now though they’re as common in society as any regular person in society, no matter how small they are. 

But if Whos are so small, how can they be seen? 

Through their Thinks, of course! Whos are thinkers through and through with thoughts so strong that everyone can see them too. Thinks can create strange creatures with horrific features. They can turn drippy old bathtubs into pools full of fish. Anything becomes possible with just a little Think. 

But be warn. Overthink a Think and it could become a Hunch, little thoughts that pester and pinch and punch. Hunches could leave a Who lost in their head, left in a tizzy without knowing what was ahead. A Hunch, strong enough, can drown out all other Thinks and can leave a Who left in a terrible clink.

And this is the situation of one Evan Hansen. 

He sits in the middle of his bed, hugging his knees with sweat palms and Hunches in his head. He tries not to think too hard or too much but every Think he thinks turns into a hunch. Like what if he’s too small, the smallest of them all, that no one can see him nevertheless hear him. His hands are too sweaty but even if they’re not, he’s sure that every Think he thinks will turn out rot. 

Maybe all he needed to be was to be himself and not worry about the thoughts of anyone else. With a little reinvention he could decide not to give up before he’s tried. Maybe with a little attention this year would be a new beginning…

Yeah, right. Who was he kidding?

Evan was nervous and anxious and a complete mess that he couldn’t even order pizza when trying his best. Besides who would notice a thoughtless little who, so weighed down by Hunches there was nothing he could do. 

It’s like he could fall in a forest with nobody around and never even crash or even make a sound…

Oh wait, that’s what he did. That’s what he had done. He ‘fell’ and was never found. 

Now he had a stupid cast on his arm that will stay white and plain with no signatures to charm. 

“Hey Evan! Where are you? We’re going to be late!” Jared calls. “Send up a Think or something already!”

Evan grimaces and swallow and squeezes his eyes shut and tries to think. 

Think of a sign that Jared can see…

Think of something that shows where he’ll be…

A Think that is big…

A Think that is grand....

But not too big or it might break the house.

But if it’s too small it might as well be a mouse.

The thoughts start clouding inside Evan’s head and soon he might have a Hunch instead.

So he thinks and he thinks and he thinks and…

“Seriously, Evan? A tree?” And Evan looking up from atop the branches, sees Jared who's pissed that he might miss his classes. “Isn’t your tree kink big enough as it is?”

“I don’t have a tree kink!” Evan protests. 

But Jared just waves his disinterest. “Fine, fine. Just get down from there you acorn. We don’t need you falling again and breaking your other arm.” 

Evan feels the air, a gentle breeze pushing through his hair. Maybe if he fell this time, with a Think he could make ever so high…

No. He couldn’t do it here in his home. Not to the Kleinmann’s, not to his mom. (But later though, when he’s all alone…)

Evan let the Think fade away and lands on Jared’s shoulder, ready maybe (though probably not) to start his day. 

[ _ They all call me a lunatic. Okay, call me a lunatic. _ ]

“‘It’s the first day on senior year, you’re not missing class!’ Yeah, right.” Connor mutters to himself. What would Cynthia know, she didn’t have to deal with this herself. 

He brushes shoulders with someone.

“Freak.”

“Slut!” He shouts back, because no way that he’s done. 

“Burnout!” Because apparently they all have something to say.

“Bug-eyes!” And there was no chance that he’s just walking away.

“Poser!” And if he stands alone...

“Lard ass!” ...then so be it.

“Hey Connor! Love the new hair length, very school shooter chic.”

Connor growls and turns to face him, Jared Kleinmann. 

Kleinmann takes a step back, a coward in the end. “It was just a joke.”

A scowl sets into Connor’s face. “Oh yeah? Very funny. I’m laughing aren’t I? Am I not laughing hard enough?!”

“Freak.” Kleinmann says, walking away at a faster pace.

Connor could have left it there, he should have left it there, but the anger was still burning red hot. Letting it drop was something that he could not. Then he spots it, the faint wisps of a forming Think. He sees red because apparently even a tiny Who thinks he stink.

“What are you laughing at?!” Connor yells, batting the wisps away. “I’m not a freak, you are!”

Then he storms off, rage clogging his throat with nothing more to say.

Fuck this, school is hell. 

[ _ No one notices anything. Not one person is listening. _ ]

When Connor Murphy dispersed his Think, Evan had fell but he was quick enough to think up a Think so well…

Jared hadn’t noticed, he didn’t turn back then again Evan was a burden so he gave him some flack.

The bell was ringing, everyone rushing to class. On the floor surrounded by the steps and thumping, Evan just curled up and let them all pass. By some stroke of luck, he hadn’t been stepped on and with who he was, no would notice that he was gone. 

Whos never really counted as much, just barely considered persons. There were protests for Who rights before it all worsens but Evan couldn’t really find himself caring. What did it matter if he amounted to nothing.

His thoughts whirled around him, Hunches telling him he should better go straight but really what was the point when he was already so late. Evan wasn’t going to class and a breath got hitched on his throat. The school would call his mom and his mom would get worried and then she’ll leave work all puffed and hurried then they’ll all start searching and find him right here, a pathetic little mess all alone there.

But the thing about Whos are that they’re ridiculously light, even the slightest breeze can propel them in flight. From a window or a door or from some other source, a wind picks up Evan and takes him on its course. 

Evan is up in the air, trembling in fear, the ground so far below and he had no way to steer. Thinks are too far and Hunches are too near. He yells and cries out for help but who in the universe would hear his tiny soft yelp?

[ _ Well someday soon, you will hear my plea _ ]

The park was deserted, of course who else would be here? No one would notice he departed, no one would think to peer. It was the end of the day, school would have ended. A spot by the pool to lay, no one would have minded. 

Connor pulled out the pills, a full bottle he had stolen which like him wouldn’t be missed until someone came patrollin’. He opened the bottle with a very loud crack but then he sat and he sat and he sat. Connor sat by the pool looking down at the pills, all he had to do was swallow to make his life nil, but before the death wish could return to the boy, Connor then heard a very small noise. 

“Help! Help!”

Connor paused and looked all around but oddly enough there was no one around. No one, though, who would be in his line of sight but then again it just might-

“Help! Help!”

And blowing through the wind, if he squinted, was a speck, a  _ Who,  _ flailing and thoroughly winded. Connor could have left the Who be, just swallow the pills and die, but there was no way that he could ignore such a pathetic little cry.

“Help! Help!”

So roughly, without the slightest of care, he tosses the pills aside then raises an arm in the air. Connor catches the Who in the palm of his hand then brings him over and drops him down  _ gently  _ on a very soft clover. 

The sobs and the cries eventually come to a stop which Connor is glad because it was almost more than he could cop. 

“Connor Murphy?!” The tiny Who squeaks. 

“Yeah, what of it?” Connor, clenching his fist, speaks. He can hear the fear in the that little voice, probably wishing that Connor had never heard his noise. 

“N-no, it’s...it’s just that…” The Who stutters. “It’s just, um...you.”

Well way to shove a guy into the gutter. Connor gets up to leave, when a branch reaches out to snag his sleeve. 

“Wait! I’m sorry...please don’t go yet.” 

Connor swipes at the branch and the Think fades but he sits himself down and listens to what the Who has to say. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything it’s just that of all the people who’d save me, you weren’t someone I was expecting…? No wait, that came out wrong! I’m sorry, I’m not very good with words and-”

“You apologize a hell lot.”

“I’m sorr-ah…”

Connor sighs, at this rate it would take all night. “How about we start over. I’m Connor Murphy, the guy who save your ass from drowning in the pool.”

A giggle came from the Who, though it was slight. “I’m Evan Hansen and thanks for saving my ass from the pool. Uh...we should shake hands now right? But not exactly because I’m too small. I should think something and...”

Thinks start forming around the clover but they were getting darker instead of firmer. 

Connor swatted at the dark-Thinks (they were called Hunches right?) and assured Evan that it was alright. “How about no thinking for now if all it does is get you stressed?”

“But then how are we supposed interact? That’s what thinks are for, right? So that Whos can work with bigger people but I never could control my Thinks and they always become Hunches and-” The words became more jumbled and his breathing abrupt.

“Hansen, just breathe.” Connor interrupts. “I can hear you just fine like this. We can just talk and take in the view or shit like that.”

“O-oh. Okay.”

But they didn’t end up doing much talking after that, watching the setting sun while they sat. 

No wind or dark thoughts or adults telling them what to do, it was just the two of them, a boy and a Who. 

“It’s getting dark.” Evan says. “Sh-shit! Mom’s going to worry! I shouldn’t have gotten caught and-”

“I’ll drop you home.” Connor says. 

“Is...is that okay? Won’t you be missing curfew or something?”

“It’s fine.” Had things gone to plan, Connor would have been out of his parents hands. 

Connor plucked the clover and walked to his car. He placed it in the cupholder, which shouldn’t have been too far.

After some stuttered direction and a short drive, the Hansen/Kleinmann home the two arrive. Evan apologised for Jared being a jerk that morning but that was something Connor had never bothered scoring. 

“Do you need me to take you to the door?” Connor asks.

“No. I think I  can think a Think for that.” Evan sounds slightly more confident, like he’s up for the task. “You know, you’re not that bad of a person.”

Connor scoffs. “Tell that to the entire student body. You heard Kleinmann, they expect me to shoot up the school.”

“They’re wrong! You’re just a little rough around the edges with a bit of a chip on your shoulder.”

“Yeah, one as big as a boulder.”

“But you can be nice. You just need a little...reinvention?”

“Get out of my car, Hansen.” Connor says, but there’s a smile. A simple sort of happiness he hadn’t felt in a while. 

“See you tomorrow, Connor. Stay safe.” And Evan on the clover left via a line of Truffula trees sprouting from the ground, each one bending back and flinging him forward on the rebound. 

“See you tomorrow, huh?”

[ _ One small voice in the universe, one true friend in the universe who believes in me _ ]

 


End file.
